In a few weeks the new year 2014 will arrive. One obvious tradition which a lot of people partake in when at this time – New Year’s resolutions. It’s all about becoming determined to solve one’s particular problems, or for groups, to become determined to solve the problems of many people. So there are those who resolve to make changes in their personal lives and that is the focus. Quitting smoking, cutting down or quitting drinking alcohol, exercising more, eating higher quality foods, and losing extra weight are some of the more popular resolutions.
Others make resolutions of a more philosophical nature like eliminating worry, treating others with more kindness, or acting more honestly and fairly with the people in their lives. Young people may make up their minds to keep their rooms neater, or to get better grades in school by devoting more time to study, or spending more time practicing on their musical instruments and the sports they would like to get more proficient at.
Other resolutions have to do with using time more efficiently by spending less time watching mindless television programs, more time devoted to hobbies or volunteerism, or learning new languages or skills. The one thing which resolutions have in common is that they are viewed as ways to live a better, higher quality of life. They all will require a change of thinking to accomplish, a new way of thinking. Some people rarely if ever make resolutions, yet for those who make and accomplish them, a new – ideally and many times better – way of thinking and living has been brought about in reality and experienced.
So then logic tells us that making resolutions for a new year is most assuredly a good thing for people.
Whether the good changes come at a personal level, with the radius of influence coming from the changes reaching a short distance including oneself, family, friends, and the people the person meets face to face, or the radius is longer reaching a wider “audience”, so to speak, is not of the greatest importance. What is worthy of appreciation is that life has become better for people, the originator of the resolutions included.
Making resolutions are to be seen as essentially a courageous action – as most are aware, breaking long-held habits, whether they be physical, mental, or spiritual, is many times easier said than done. Frequently resolutions are listed only to become forgotten and abandoned, and no changes become realized. Many times men and women are able to develop the discipline needed to accomplish resolution goals, and gain the experiencing of good benefits as a result.
Whether your goals for 2014 have their focus on personal change or the extent of the changes you choose to pursue involve more people, a handful or the whole of humanity, may we wish all people the best intentions for the successful reaching of all those goals. When the topic of resolutions comes up in discussion in the coming days make sure to give great encouragement to people. Be determined to tell people that “you can do it” and “I’m happy for you – great resolutions”, simply taking the opportunity to express your gladness that another person is thinking of making good changes.
“…for a conscious being, to exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
In the following video we are given examples of people and the organizations they are working with in the process of continual resolution – an ongoing determination to lift the world’s men, women, and children to a higher place where justice and human rights become visible and experiential. Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) made resolutions. The resolutions he made had their focus on a large radius of the human family, and because those goals did not match the agendas of others of those days, he paid the ultimate price for his determination to achieve those goals.
The RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights has recently celebrated 30 years of annual awards for men and women around the Earth making a good difference for human rights. The men and women awardees during those 30 years are people who have not achieved fame, glamour or fortune, but have in their lifetimes made “resolutions” to make good changes come about. Most every person who makes resolutions for 2014 will not achieve fame or fortune, but, as RFK thought, have the real opportunity to make a good difference.
One can only imagine if the world’s collective resolution for the year 2014 was to “Unite Mankind”…
“…Change is the nursery of musicke, joy, life, and eternity.”
Patrice E. Lumumba; Congo prime minister, premier ministre congolais, kongolesischer Ministerpräsident (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Posted November 14, 2013
by Jerry Alatalo
Fifty years agoPresident John F. Kennedy (JFK) was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Will Americans ever know who was behind the murder, and most importantly, will the American people ever know why JFK’s hopeful voice for humanity was brutally silenced?
Let me get as basic and simple as possible. JFK was killed and silenced because he studied philosophy.
Those of you who have studied philosophy enough to become changed in important ways understand what I am putting forward. For those who have no awareness of being moved through reading philosophical writings let me try to explain. I will first point out that I am not a person who could be considered an academic in the field of philosophy. I took an introductory philosophy course in college, have since read what the average curious man or woman would, and, like the average person, have experienced moments of what could be described as “significant change” in perceptions from philosophical writings.
I remember meeting a fellow from my hometown years later, who I sat with during that introductory class, and him asking “still reading philosophy?”. Since we only coincidentally signed up for the class, and never got into any deep discussions of philosophy or spent any time together as close friends (we were acquaintances), I simply answered, “it’s a life-long thing, philosophy”, and that was that.
I break the rule “never talk about religion or politics” all the time, because there is nothing else that really interests me. But, enough about my average person’s extent of delving into matters philosophical.
JFK, Dag Hammarskjold, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy (RFK) all studied philosophy. I am not certain about Congo’s first democratically elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, who was assassinated shortly after he was elected in 1961. One senses that Mr. Lumumba indeed was one who studied philosophy, because, well, he was assassinated. So, you are asking yourself, what is the point? Essentially these five very popular world leaders became personally involved in the war between good and evil.
As mentioned in past posts, Dag Hammarskjold was the second (thought after his death to have been the greatest) secretary-general of the United Nations. I believe that he was intentionally murdered in a plane crash on the way to the Congo to deal with warring and fighting there in 1961. The nation of the Congo is perhaps the wealthiest on Earth with regard to natural resources. Because Mr. Hammarskjold had an undergraduate degree in philosophy, he had decided to do what he could in his secretary-general role to obtain justice in the world, the Congo being that region where his efforts cost him his life.
Dag Hammarskjold was murdered because he was on the side of good in the world.
Patrice Lumumba was the first Prime Minister of newly independent Congo. He tried to do the right things for the people of his nation, things which did not coincide with those who were greatly interested in profits from extraction of the mineral wealth in that region. Because Mr. Lumumba wanted to do what was right and good for the people, it cost him his life in 1961.
JFK became president in 1960 and witnessed the assassinations of Patrice Lumumba and Dag Hammarskjold, saying of Hammarskjold that he was,”the greatest statesman of our time”. One could say with close to certainty that JFK and Dag Hammarskjold had deep philosophical discussions which focused on creating a better world for all people, the end of war, and coöperation between all nations and peoples on Earth.
JFK was aware of who killed Patrice Lumumba and Dag Hammarskjold, and he opposed those persons with his decision to end involvement in the Vietnam War, at the same time opposing proposed action(s) in resource rich Africa and other continents. Fifty days before his death, JFK met in Washington, D.C. with Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, whose 1963 speech at the United Nations is considered the greatest UN speech ever delivered – deeply philosophical in nature. Talks between JFK and Selassie could have been a cause of concern, intensifying the urgency to remove JFK from power (see Hammarskjold, Lumumba), for those who wanted to profit from the rich natural resources in Africa. Kennedy would have ended “covert wars” which interfered directly with the sovereignty of nations whose lands possessed resources coveted by corporations.
Jesse Ventura points out that, instead of Lyndon Johnson’s (LBJ) first cabinet meeting after JFK’s murder and his assuming the office of president being about the economy, infrastructure, etc., his first meeting was completely focused on Vietnam, and weeks later the USA and LBJ escalated the Vietnam conflict. Over 50,000 American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese people died in the war.
I remember reading a book titled “Deadly Deceits” by Ralph McGehee, who was an intelligence officer in Vietnam whose job was determining “enemy” strength. His analyses continually showed up to 80% of the Vietnamese people behind Ho Chi Minh, while his conclusions were continually ignored by his superiors, despite McGehee’s anguish at the tremendous loss of life in that human tragedy of greatest proportion. McGehee summed up the geopolitical situation on Earth at the end of that book by writing, “multi-national corporations run the world”.
The Vietnam War is now seen by any reasonable person as a profound human catastrophe. Those who gained financially from that war faced opposition by JFK. My guess is that JFK was against killing innocent people anywhere on Earth, including Vietnam and the Congo, and he was going to fight and block what he had learned through his knowledge of philosophy as – evil.
Mr. Ventura points out that no American would have ever seen the infamous Abraham Zapruder film had Jim Garrison, the prosecutor portrayed by Kevin Costner in Oliver Stone’s film “JFK”, not issued a subpoena for his trial.
The attack in 1967, during the Israel-Egypt “Six-Day War”, of the USS Liberty by Israeli defense jets, and the later cover-up by LBJ, leads me to believe LBJ was behind JFK’s assassination. For those not yet familiar with the 1967 USS Liberty incident, Israeli jets attacked the military ship for two hours, killed 34 American servicemen and wounded 170. The attack, which I believe was known about by LBJ as he colluded with military higher-ups in the Israel defense establishment, was carried out with the intent to kill every last person on the USS Liberty – a “false flag” to bring the American people to support involvement of the United States military in the Middle East region in 1967.
Israel called the attack “a mistake”. While the attack was occurring, even though the Israeli jets aimed to cut off the communications ability of the US servicemen, ingenuity of those on board allowed them to contact the nearest navy ship with their SOS and American jets were sent to help. LBJ called those jets back, the “mistake” story never seriously investigated, the survivors swore to secrecy upon threat of court-martial(s), and since 1967 no congressional committee has made any effort to investigate and set the historical record straight.
LBJ was on-board with the attempt to kill over 200 American servicemen on the USS Liberty in 1967, so a claim of him being behind the murder of JFK does not strain credulity. The Israeli attack on the USS Liberty was an unsuccessful “false flag” that every American should know about. Keep in mind that the earlier so-called “Gulf of Tonkin” incident is now commonly known to have been a “false flag” that led to escalation of the Vietnam War. One could assert that LBJ was behind the Gulf of Tonkin false flag incident as well.
I believe JFK and LBJ had profound philosophical differences with regard to foreign and military policy. In the most basic terms JFK and LBJ represent the forces on Earth which every person must wrestle with: the forces of good and evil. JFK worked for the betterment of all mankind, the cessation of war, world peace, and cooperation between all nations. LBJ was about corporate profits with war and killing as an acceptable “business strategy” to carry out delivery of those profits.
JFK was killed in the battle between good and evil on Earth.
Martin Luther King (MLK) was a minister with extensive study in matters of religion and philosophy. He was a leading voice in America against the Vietnam War and once called the United States “the greatest purveyor of violence on Earth”. MLK knew that the actions he was engaged in jeopardized his very life. He understood in the most profound way that “greater love hath no man than this; that one gives up his life for his friends”. Mr. King just wanted to “do God’s will”.
Martin Luther King died fighting the battle between good and evil on Earth.
Robert F. Kennedy was on his way to becoming elected president when he was murdered…
In the war between good and evil on Earth.
****
Jesse Ventura is viewed by Americans in varied ways. The fact that he was at one time a wrestler in the fake world of professional wrestling has led to a situation where many discount what he has to say, even before they hear it. My view of Mr. Ventura is that he is perhaps not as well-read in philosophy as Dag Hammarskjold, JFK, Patrice Lumumba, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy, but has received a great amount of “common-sense” philosophy. He seems to have had a father who was concerned enough with Jesse that he conveyed what wisdom he could.
What is admirable about Jesse Ventura is his appreciation of truth and total rejection of those who tell falsehoods and lie to others. My guess is that many men and women admire Jesse Ventura and the increasing number of men and women around the world who are devoted to telling the truth while exposing those who lie.
Let us hope that many more men and women devoted to truth, and fighting the war between good and evil on Earth, step forward and speak out…
For the good.
(Video source: City & State / YouTube, Jesse Ventura interview with Morgan Pehme)
Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms.. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
This blog is devoted to legal, historical and human rights matters, in which issues of general concern are addressed freely and spontaneously. It is intended to further an informal exchange of views in the democratic spirit of freedom of opinion and respect for the opinions of others, in an effort to understand rather than condemn, to propose constructive solutions rather than grandstand. The perspective is both from inside and outside the box and the added value lies more in the questions than in the answers.
THE ONENESS of HUMANITY 